Two-Lane Blacktop (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

for motor reving , axle twisting, tire burning, fun fun fun. good old movie..just to chk the old cars out. grab a 6 pack before watching..

Great movie! Warren Oates is so good in this movie!

Less dated than Easy Rider, this early 70's time capsule is an existential masterpiece. What the hell does that mean? It means the film is full of space. It's about absolute nothing, or everything, or somewhere in between. It's a poem that doesn't deliver what an audience expects but is utterly faithful to it's idea. It doesn't have an emotional pay-off, but instead finds a stylish way to cinematically burn rubber and fade away. It's characters are called Driver, Mechanic, GTO and Girl. Its stars are James Taylor (yeah the pop singer), Dennis Wilson (yeah the late Beach Boy), Warren Oates (in perhaps his finest performances) and Laura Bird (most won't know her, she's good). Driver and Mechanic are the original slackers. They love racing, and hustling people to keep racing and their supercharged '55 Chevy. They are not hippies, but car junkies. The meet a loud mouth middle aged guy driving a newer sportier GTO who wants to race them for pink slips. Eventually they agree to what amounts to a gentlemen's type race from New Mexico to the East Coast. There's not a lot of suspense to the race, and the film is about. . . well whatever you want it to be about. GTO pretends to be someone else everytime he picks up a new hitch-hiker. He's amusing himself with his creative imagination and re-inventing himself to escape the middle age blues. Eventually there's a little bit of a competition over a young female hitchhiker. The film was filmed on location as cast and crew drove across the country. The bare-bones script is by Rudolph Wurlitzer and Will Curry. The film becomes more and more abstract as it moves along. The story matters less and less. A circle eventually forms and we realize we've been riding along on a very unique, one of a kind film. There's a wonderful example of an utterly open ended final shot. Some are going to find this film very dull and wonder what there is to admire and respect about it. Others are going to 'discover' all sorts of things that are of course not actually present in the film itself, but are thoughts and reactions the film has sparked and triggered within them as they watched the film. Other's will enjoy the muscle cars, and late 60's cars that make sporadic appearances or rev up their engines on occassion. It's a film you watch many times and find different subtexts, moods, ideas and space within. It's a film that requires the viewer to both observe, accept and participate in, like one would a living sculpture. It's the kind of art film you would never expect from a director who made two quirky Westerns for Roger Corman in the mid 60's (The Shooting and Ride the Whirlwind --with Nicholson right before Jack became a star with Easy Rider). Hellman also went on to make the very interesting Cockfigher with Warren Oates. He's appreciated by a small, growing cult of afficianado's and you'll find Hellman's name more recently as executive producer of Reservoir Dogs. For something really unique I suggest you find a way to watch the DVD of Two-Lane Blacktop. The film was long out of circulation because of disputes over music rights. They were resolved and the film has been beautifully transferred to DVD and actually looks better than it ever did since the contrasts in light were carefully boosted during the DVD transfer. Chris Jarmick Author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder - A steamy cyber thriller available January 2001. Please order it today. Thank You

This was an excellent film about two guys drag racing to pay their way state to state. If you’re into real cars with real drivers, no CGI then this is a must for your collection.

Good quality for what it is, I have not gotten through all the bonus material yet but its all presented very well.

As the resident both car and film buff in my family I was always discomforted that my only experience with this amazing film was had through TCM, where I first discovered it. Copies for sale have been hard to come by... To describe this as a classic would be minimising. The packaging offers 'liner notes' that tell a story, within the story. This is a gem! Happy to have it!

Older cars that had style.

A good friend of mine is an insanely obsessed car-freak. One lazy weekend afternoon we were kicking back in his living room having some beers, and he turned on his TV and popped a DVD into the player, and we watched Two Lane Blacktop. I'm not into cars at all, but I was transfixed by this movie. When it was all over, I didn't find it pretentious or confusing or boring in the slightest. I saw it as a very simple yet compelling story; Two men live for only one thing: racing their car, which has been stripped down to its barest essentials in order to give it maximum speed. Things like air conditioning and rear seats have been removed... steel has been replaced with fiberglass. And as they have done with their car, they have stripped away all "extraneous" elements from their lives, and from their very selves. They have no need for conversation or music, or for love or anger or any other emotion for that matter. They're cold and dehumanized. As they make their way across the landscape, they meet an older man who has lost his life and identity, and is desperately searching for new ones. Most important, they are joined by a girl who wants only one thing: human contact. As I saw it, the central point of the story is how she affects the men, one of them more than the others. For me, this clarifies the notoriously "ambiguous" ending. It isn't a perfect film by any means. Laurie Bird's neophyte status is painfully obvious in some of her scenes. At times this film may be too subtle and understated for its own good. Austere to a fault. It seems that some of the most important and basic plot elements are left to the viewer to infer. Then again, this may again be part of the "stripped down" theme that is so prevalent throughout. Whatever the case, it's an incredibly unique and very haunting film. I can certainly understand that it isn't for everyone. Two Lane Blacktop is actually much like 2001: A Space Odyssey in that respect; some will inevitably regard it as boring and pointless. Others will, for lack of a less elitist and arrogant term, "get it." I heartily recommend that everyone sees it for themselves at least once, and find out which group you belong to.

This is a film where nothing happens, except right at the end, when nothing happens. Dialogue is minimal. Acting is underplayed, and several of the stars are "non-actors" (whatever that means). The tone is nihilistic - although I should point out that no-one dies, and nothing particularly bad happens. Yet despite all that, it's watchable and engaging. This re-defined for me what film making can be. It's not like anything else I've seen (including films made after it), although directors like Jarmusch obviously share some of Hellman's values. It was on my "must see before I die" list for years, and I was prepared for it to fail to meet the hype. In fact, I think it far exceeds it: a classic, a milestone, a must for everyone with a serious interest (whatever that is) in film.

I purchased this item as used. Thought I would get a used DVD and case. What I got was about box set with a screenplay,-a smaller book that explains the scenes-and two DVD’s. One- original movie and one revisiting the movies original route and commentary 20 years later. Paid under 50.00!!! Best video purchase I have ever made!

Film fantastique, une nostalgie des routes américaines disparues avec des voitures de rêves, des personnages sans attache et donc libres, enfin cette forme de cinéma où la route est le principal personnage romantique et dont on aimerait être le témoin silencieux du tournage.

Auf der DVD findet sich der Satz "Wenn es jemals ein Filmregisseur verdient hätte, wiederentdeckt zu werden, dann wäre das Monte Hellman". Quentin Tarantino hat es gesagt, man kann ihm nur zustimmen. Monte Hellman hat schöne Filme gedreht, immer konsequent am amerikanischen Massengeschmack vorbei. Seine beiden Western "Ride the Whirlwind" und "The Shooting" gaben dem dahinsiechenden Western Genre neue Anregungen, auch wenn ein existentialistischer Western nichts für John Wayne Freunde ist. "Two-Lane Blacktop", vom produzierenden Studio boykottiert, ist auch an den Kinokassen ein Flop gewesen, begeisterte aber die Filmkritiker. Und entwickelte sich so ganz still, als ein Geheimtip, zum Kultfilm. Der New Yorker Buchhändler, der mir vor Jahrzehnten das Drehbuch verkaufte, hatte extra fett "scarce" auf einen gelben Aufkleber geschrieben. Und natürlich den Preis hochgesetzt. Wahrscheinlich ist es heute wirklich etwas wert. Den Film bekommt man aber ganz preiswert, und man sollte ihn unbedingt kaufen. Und ansehen. "Easy Rider" ist ja nur wegen des Soundtrack gut - und weil es der Karrierestart für Fonda, Nicholson und Hopper war. Aber es ist kein wirklich guter Film. Dies hier, das ist ein wirklich guter Film. Das Label "existentialistisch" hatte er bei der französischen Filmkritik von Anfang an bekommen, und das auch wohl zu Recht. Ein Road Movie, das das gerade erfundene Genre transzendiert. Ein Autorennen quer durch Amerika auf den alten Landstraßen, die einmal die echte Route 66 waren. Bis auf Warren Oates (und in einer Nebenrolle Harry Dean Stanton) keine professionellen Schauspieler. Und das war vielleicht auch gut so. Der Film kommt daher wie das wirklich Leben, und er ist in den letzten vierzig Jahren erstaunlich jung geblieben. Und vielleicht hat sich das Amerika abseits der großen Highways inzwischen auch kaum verändert. Die DVD enthält als hochwillkommene Zugabe ein langes Interview mit Monte Hellman, der mit seiner Tochter und einigen Filmstudenten noch einmal die Route 66 abfährt.

Maybe you're a car enthusiast or a classic car enthusiast but maybe not American classics? Watch this film anyway because this is the Iconic Road Movie! Street racing for cars (pink slips) with some drag racing thrown in as well. Some humour, in fact a fair bit of fairly dry humour (even spelled the english way which amazon highlights as a mistake). How realistic are the car scenes? Well the scene at the start of the film was for real and the police turned up. The main car is the real deal and was also used in American Graffiti (actually there were 3 identical cars). Sure there's a slow section in the middle of the film but it picks up pace again after. Whatever your age if you're a car person you ought to watch this film at least once.